Apple announces iLife ’11, FaceTime for Mac

Apple announced today new features for iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie, as well …

Apple announced a new version of its iLife suite, called iLife '11, at a special event today in Cupertino. The focus appeared to be on media creation, as Apple engineers described in detail several updates to three of iLife's applications—iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand—and also announced a Mac version of FaceTime, Apple's video chat feature on the iPhone 4.

iPhoto is now able to operate in full-screen mode from beginning to end. The program used to include full-screen modes only in subsections, such as photo editing or slideshows. Now, users no longer have to work outside of full-screen, even to email photos or post them to Facebook or Flickr.

Instead, iPhoto can, for instance, pop open a Mail window within the full-screen view and conduct all sending business without having to navigate around or away from iPhoto itself. Another of iPhoto's new features is its ability to pull down photos from Facebook or Flickr and display them as albums within the program, along with any comments on the pictures.

Users can also now construct slideshows around picture geotags. Clicking the Places slideshow button automatically creates a photo slideshow that announces the location where photos were taken (London or New York, for example) before displaying the photos over a drop shadow of the map location.

A few tweaks have been introduced into iPhoto's photo-book-making as well. iPhoto will now automatically arrange photos in a book by the users' ratings of the photos (if they exist) and will display past photo projects in a "project mode" that arranges them on a virtual bookshelf, similar to the iBooks display.

Apple is also introducing a new letterpress service through iPhoto. Letterpress cards, a type of custom stationery with embossed text, are now obtainable through iPhoto.

In its newest iteration, iMovie '11 is gaining a few features, some lifted from past versions of iPhoto. Apple has added a face-identifying feature to iMovie, similar to iPhoto's Faces capability. iMovie can now search clips based on the particular person you're looking for, and can also sort clips based on criteria like whether the clip is a group or single shot.

Some of the audio controls have been streamlined, allowing users to play with waveforms to adjust the volume in different sections or to introduce a fade, for instance. To match the previously introduced video effects, Apple is also introducing audio effects, making it easier to do things like apply slow-mo voice to real-time video.

Adding video effects also appears simpler now. For example, users can pick a section of their video, and by clicking a couple of buttons, can have the playback freeze on the last frame of the selected part and apply a Ken Burns slow-zoom effect.

One of the more left-field additions is iMovie's new movie trailer mode, which can do things like arrange the names of the cast into the classic cluster of white text on a black background familiar from the cinema. Apple also includes some stock epic audio to play behind these trailers. We can't think of a big purpose for this feature beyond being a silly skin to apply to videos from a vacation, good for sharing through the new in-program options to post videos to Facebook or Vimeo.

GarageBand '11 has gained a new feature called "groove matching," which appears to be meant to fix poor timing. With groove matching, users can adjust recorded tracks to align their rhythm with another, better-timed track. While the feature is likely only going to prolong the inevitable breakup of bands whose members have chronically terrible timing, it may be useful for people just trying to cobble together a cohesive one-off track.

GarageBand will also now include music lessons on the guitar and piano. Instruments are not included (the piano keyboard window is a poor substitute for an actual piano), so your mileage may vary. But if you've had a guitar lying around for a while and yearn to be able to play something other than "Crash Into Me," the new lessons may be helpful. If your instrument can be hooked up to your computer, GarageBand can display and guide you through sheet music, highlighting in red the notes you got wrong.

Apple also tacked on to its iLife announcement the introduction of FaceTime for Mac. iPhone 4 users, previously restricted to FaceTime video-chatting only with each other, can now patch through to users of Mac OS X as well.

As usual, iLife will be free with new Mac purchases and $49 as an outright purchase. FaceTime for Mac will be free, and like iLife, is available starting today.